04-15-2011
• Terrence Aym
Over the years many theories have been offered. Some thought the dinosaurs grew big because of the richer oxygen content in the atmosphere. But the evidence only supports that theory for insects like the prehistoric centipedes and dragonflies. Others like the proponents of the Inflating Earth Theory, argue that in the past the Earth was one-third smaller and had much less gravity. The large dinosaurs, they say, could not even stand or walk in today's gravity. But the data gleaned by scientists over the decades has tended to discredit both those theories. Quite simply, the largest sauropods—like the Argentinosaurus that was the biggest of them all—had a better pair of lungs and were designed to eat fast and eat a lot. They ate so much, in fact, that a few of them could strip a small forest in one day.